Rso's Relocation Plans Uncertain

Boschert Hopeful The Radioactive Waste Firm Won't Settle In Odenton

July 31, 1991|By Peter Hermann | Peter Hermann,Staff writer

Plans to relocate a medical waste transfer station in Odenton are onhold while a Laurel company struggles to secure bank financing, prompting hope from a county councilman that the controversial facility won't be built.

"It's a done deal," said David G. Boschert, D-Crownsville. "They've packed up and left."

However, the general manager for RSO Inc. said the company is pressing ahead. But he said he wasn't sure if the land the company wantsto build on will be available when the banks come through with the money.

"We like that site," Rick DiSalvo said. "Whether we can findanother one, I don't know."

Company officials say the company has outgrown its present site and wants to consolidate operations in Odenton, in the Mayfield Industrial Park, off Mayfield Road between Route 170 and the MARC commuter rail line.

The plans have sparked concerns from community residents, whosay the word "radioactive" scares people. Boschert does not want thecompany to relocate, saying it is too close to residential areas.

He said he talked to the owner of the industrial park, Glen Burnie developer Ernest J. Litty, president of Leimbach Development Inc. Litty told him the land would not be available to RSO if the delays in securing financing continue.

"He said the land would not be used forthat facility and that the facility would not be anywhere near the area," Boschert said. Litty could not be reached for comment yesterday.

DiSalvo said he is not sure what will happen if the property is not available, but added the company still may be interested in Odenton. "We haven't made a decision yet," he said.

Residents who attended a public meeting in September expressed concerns over truck traffic and the kind of waste the company would accept.

DiSalvo told them the waste was "material used day in and day out by a number of businesses and industries."

He said RSO's nine box trucks and minivans regularly pick up small quantities of low-level radioactive wastes -- including X-ray images and other medical wastes -- sealed in steeldrums.

The drums are brought back to the transfer station and stored before being shipped to hazardous waste landfills in South Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, Washington, Colorado and Nevada.

DiSalvo said the company does not deal with any waste from electric utilities or dispose of high-level radioactive wastes, such as spent fuel from nuclear power plants.

The facility RSO hopes to build in Odenton would include offices, a laboratory to calibrate gauges and monitoringequipment, a radon-testing lab, a warehouse for waste-disposal operation and a small mail-order sales business.